Tooele County (Utah). County Recorder Mining records

Historical Note

Scope and Content

Tooele County mining record books predominantly contain notices of location (mining claims) filed in the County recorder's office. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, gold, copper, silver, lead, mercury, and zinc were mined extensively in Tooele County. One of Tooele County's largest mining camps, Mercur (in the Camp Floyd Mining District), constructed a cyanide mill for processing gold. The Mercur mill enhanced local ability to extract gold from ore, and led to increased activity among miners searching for and mining gold. Each mine began with the discovery of a potentially productive site and the recording of a notice of location. Federal mining law enacted in 1872 provided that valuable mineral deposits were free and open to exploration and that the locators of the same were to have exclusive right of possession (Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States of America, vol. 17, chap. 152, also Revised Statutes of the United States, chap. 6, title 32). Each notice of location affirms that the locator had complied with federal and local mining laws. Each notice provides a description of the claim, identifies it by a unique name, gives the mining district in which it was located, and provides the names of locators. Notices provide dates of location and recording and are signed by the Tooele County recorder.

In addition to notices of location, Tooele County mining record books include agreements relating to mining, amendments to notices of location, and affidavits showing proof of annual assessment labor. In order to maintain or patent a claim, the law required that miners do development work. Utah law required that they to file an affidavit in the county recorder's office upon completion of this work (Utah Code Annotated, 1953, 40-1-6). Each affidavit verifies the completion of at least $100 worth of labor on a specific claim and itemizes what that labor entailed. In 1893 and 1894 Congress temporarily suspended the annual work requirement, but required miners to file their intention to maintain the claim. Many records of intent to hold a claim were recorded in 1893-1894. After 1903 Tooele County mining record books include many notices of location for petroleum claims in addition to location notices for hard rock minerals.

During Utah's territorial period location notices and other mining records were primarily kept in each separate mining district. Tooele County mining record books contain additional or duplicate copies of location notices and other records for Tooele County mining districts, including Camp Floyd, Rush Valley, Ophir, Clifton, Dugway, Tooele City, and the North Tintic District of Juab County. Book B is a full and complete transcript of Book B for the Camp Floyd Mining District. Tooele County mining records include mining records for numerous small districts such Shambip, Willow Springs, Third Term, Blue Bell, Erickson, Free Coinage, Lakeside, and Columbia. Utah territorial law required that mining district by-laws be recorded by the county recorder in which the mining district operated. These mining record books contain by-laws for the Rush Valley District (Book C, page 511), the Hercules District (Book D, page 374), the Russell District (Book D, page 377), the Shambip District (Book D, page 379), the Free Coinage District (Book D, page 386), the Mercur District (Book D, page 431), the Blue Bell District (Book D page 493), and the Camp Floyd District (Book D page 567).

Arrangement

Many notices of location in Tooele County were filled out and recorded on preprinted forms. The Tooele County recorder separated these preprinted notices of location from hand-written notices and other mining records. Preprinted location notices comprise books E, F, H, K, P, Q, S, T, V, X, Y, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2F, 2G, part of books D and G). Documents in all other books are hand written and are not separated by document type. Within each book documents were recorded in roughly chronological order.

Research Note

These books were microfilmed with the camera head upside down, and therefore the images are in reverse order on the reel. In order to read the entries in chronological order, a researcher will need to read the microfilm backwards.

Related Records

Deeds from Tooele County (Utah). County Recorder, Series 6080, contain mining deeds, patents, mineral certificates and many other mining related documents.

Mining records from Rush Valley Mining District (Utah). Recorder, Series 24160, contain additional and earlier mining records for claims located in the Rush Valley Mining District.

Mining records from Ophir Mining District (Utah). Recorder, Series 24165, contain additional location notices and other mining records for claims located in the Ophir Mining District.

General mining index from Tooele County (Utah). County Recorder, Series 24174, provides reference by name of claim to the documents recorded in this and other Tooele County record book series.

Mining location notices indexes from Tooele County (Utah). County Recorder, Series 24176, provide reference to the notices of location recorded in these mining record books.

Mining districts index from Tooele County (Utah). County Recorder, Series 24182, provides reference to a few of the documents recorded in these record books. Reference is based on mining district.

Location notices from Clifton Mining District (Utah). Recorder, Series 24331, contain additional location notices for claims located in the Clifton Mining District.

Mining claims abstracts from Tooele County (Utah). County Recorder, Series 24562, provide reference based on mining claim, to documents recorded in these books, as well as other Tooele County record book series.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Gaps in Series

Utah State Archives holds mining record books for the Tooele County for 1885-1917. However, based on index references, Tooele County recorders continued to keep the mining record books until 1955 when they began recording notices of location in official record books. For mining records, 1917-ongoing, contact the Tooele County recorder.

Processing Note

Mining record books kept by the Tooele County recorder were processed by Rosemary Cundiff in November 2002.

Finding Aids

Indexes: Several references provide access to the documents recorded in mining record books. These include a General Mining Index, series 24174; a Location Notices Index, series 24176; a Mining Districts Index, series 24182; and Mining Claims Abstracts, series 24562.